


we can start moving forward

by solid-no-on-that-on (DragonsAddicted)



Series: of goddesses and spirits and all lost things [3]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Based off a HC, From the LU discord server, Linked Universe, This is an AU FYI
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-01 10:04:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18333758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonsAddicted/pseuds/solid-no-on-that-on
Summary: In where people grow, forgiveness is found, and Time finally starts to deal with the issues he’s had with the goddess since his childhood.(Loosely based off of the HC that Hylia vows to protect Wild after he picks up the sword. Also a confrontation between Time and Hylia. Warning: very sympathetic to Hylia)





	we can start moving forward

**Author's Note:**

> In my defense, I have never played a LOZ game. Linked Universe belongs to jojo56830 on tumblr. 
> 
> This is maybe my second fanfic I've ever written? 
> 
> The title is from my current favorite song, Lost in My Mind by the Head and the Heart.
> 
> Hope y'all enjoy!

Time wakes up to a faint glow behind his eyelids.

 

He opens his eyes and sits up, expecting the waking hours of daylight, but the world is dark around him. The embers of the cooking fire have long burnt out and he can hear the quiet snores of Warriors a few yards away. Looking up, he sees the stars of early morning, and growing more uneasy by the second.

 

_Something is wrong here._

 

Quickly, Time grabs his Biggeron Sword and leaps from his cot. Is this an attack? An ambush? Where were the others?

 

The glow is coming from behind him, but it easily allows him to take inventory of the others. He can see Warriors, still snoring, sprawled out over his cot, blankets strewn around him, with Wind laying on his outstretched arm. Legend sleeps near to where a roaring fire once was, his back facing Time’s cot. Hyrule sleeps on his stomach with his arms pushing up his pillow, while Four was, unfortunately, a victim of Sky’s nightly cuddles.

 

He turns quickly in order to find his protege and Wild. Twi’s bed is empty, but before Time panics, he remembers that Twi volunteered to be on watch tonight. He almost calls him, but as his eyes slide towards Wild’s cot the sound dies in his throat.

 

Wild’s head is in the lap of a glowing Hylian woman. The expression on her face is sad as Wild’s face twists into a grimace, an external symptom of the horrible nightmares that he surely has as a result of his terrible past.

 

Time feels recognition deep in his bones. While he knows he has never met this woman, she feels almost familiar to him. He does not know her face, but his soul recognizes her power.

 

_Hylia_

 

\---------

 

 

In his head, Time knows that the Goddess has chosen all of them to be heroes.

 

In his head, he knows that Hylia won’t hurt Wild.

 

In his head, he knows that his sword won’t do anything.

 

In his heart, Time doesn't care.

 

He is filled with rage as he sees her. He remembers leaving the forest to go on a quest that she sent him on. He remembers the screams of the redeads and the yellow eyes of the Mask and the knowledge that everything was his fault.

 

He remembers Wild’s scars, covering his whole body, a physical sign of his failure. He remembers the shrine of resurrection, cold and dark and all too small. He remembers talks of the barracks and his duty as Zelda’s personal guard. He remembers Wild’s everlasting faith in the deity before him and wonders if she ever knew of it.

 

But here she was. The source of all of that strife sat before him, gently stroking Wild’s hair, faintly humming an all too familiar tune.

 

With barely restrained anger he stalks towards her, using the tip of his sword to force her chin up to look him in the eyes. Finally, he can face the cause of his pain and misery. Finally, he can release his anger and fill the hole in his chest that was created from the weight of his mistakes.

 

But before he can issue an angry challenge, a chance to avenge his lost years and his Hyrule and his family, he freezes.

 

He freezes because he sees recognition in her eyes.

 

He freezes because he sees regret.

 

 

\---------

 

 

Fate is a fickle thing.

 

Time met his fate as a hero and he failed, but he ended up getting a happy ending, one he doesn’t think he deserves.

 

Despite all his blessings, Time hates the goddess.

 

When Time was a child, the goddess was out of reach. In response to his pain, not a prayer has been answered. Begging to the skies yielded only cold indifference. If not for the constant weight of the master sword on his back Time wouldn’t believe in a goddess at all.

 

But, after years—decades—of silence, here she was. At the mercy of a sword that wasn’t even hers.

 

However, as Time gets ready to strike, he thinks about Wild.

 

After all, Wild failed too. He had his fate handed to him since he stumbled upon the master sword as a child. But, despite his scars and his guilt, Wild still is faithful to the goddess.

 

Wild still prays to the goddess every day. While Time’s well of reverence has long been empty, Wild still has awe in his eyes every time he kneels in front of a statue.

 

Wild, Time thinks, has even more reason to hate the goddess than he does.

 

But…he doesn’t.

 

And maybe, if Wild doesn’t, Time will give her a chance, just this once.

 

He lowers his sword, and the world around him seems to release the breath it was holding.

 

Hylia, for all her credit, finally breaks the decades of silence.

 

“I’m sorry.”

 

Her voice is soft. It almost reminds him of Malon. In the face of her apparent vulnerability, he stays silent.

 

She sighs and looks down at the boy—yes, a boy because for all he’s been through Wild is still _oh so young_ —in her lap. Time senses that she knows that he is angry, that he is hurting, and that she can do nothing about it. There’s a pause. Finally, Time responds.

 

“He’s been through so much. You’ve put him through so much. You've put  _me_ through so much. You don’t get to be sorry.”

 

She sighs.

 

“I know.”

 

So, she explains. She explains that the eons have mellowed her, that she no longer views her warriors as tools but as people, now.

 

She explains that Wild found the sword young, that she was too late and the moment his hand grasped the sword was the moment his fate was sealed.

 

She tells Time about how she prayed and how Farore answered.

 

She tells him of the pact that they formed. How they vowed to protect him.

 

She tells him how Wild’s father, upon seeing the sword, gave him to the king and doomed him to a childhood full of discipline and pain and an adolescence of silence.

 

She tells him how she cursed the king who mistreated him and Zelda, how she stole Wild’s memories in an attempt to let him become someone else who wouldn’t be haunted by his less-than-savory past.

 

She tells him how she failed.

 

“I know that I wronged you, my dear hero. And I am so, so sorry.”

 

Time only offers a hum in response. Hylia takes a breath and continues.

 

“I know that I have made many mistakes, and I do not deserve forgiveness,” she glances down at the blonde head still fast asleep in her lap “I cannot rectify all of my mistakes, but, if I can do anything, I want to try and help him.”

 

And…Time can understand that.

 

He won’t forgive her, of course not. There’s too much she hasn’t done, and so much she’s failed to do. This turnaround does not absolve her, but maybe it's a start. 

 

Maybe, maybe she isn’t as cold as he once knew her to be.

 

Perhaps, she’s more human than he thought.

 

And Time? Time can work with that.  


End file.
